Mason Therapy Contract Subject Of Disagreement
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
As the final days of Kosciusko Community Hospital drew to a close, some loose ends needed to be tied up - including securing a contract for therapy services for Mason Health Care.
On Jan. 29, following a flurry of activity, KCH officials and Mason Health Care administrator Brian Catron agreed to a service agreement for Kosciusko Regional Rehabilitation, a department of KCH. KRR, while a department within the hospital, is operated under a professional services contract with Tom Johnson and a staff of 13 therapists.
The resulting service contract with Mason is not in dispute, but the circumstances that led to its signing, and whether Mason was prevented from obtaining service from the best therapy provider, are the subject of disagreement.
According to Catron, on the morning of Jan. 29, three days before the sale of KCH to Quorum Health Services was complete, Joan Darr, vice president of operations for KCH, called to inform Catron that effective Feb. 1, Mason would no longer receive therapy services through KCH and that he needed to sign a service agreement with KRR before close of business to avoid a disruption of therapy services.
There was not going to be a disruption of services, however, because another provider, Progressive Rehabilitation Services of Fort Wayne, was scheduled to begin working with Mason the following Monday, Catron said. But Catron, still an employee of KCH at the time, signed the agreement with KRR because he was ordered to do so.
"The hospital has been very gracious in offering the extension of some services - the phones, for example," Catron said. "I did, however, have another vendor of therapy service arranged for Feb. 1 because they (Quorum) didn't want the liability."
Darr's recollection of these events is different.
"He (Catron) said he couldn't get somebody lined up for one to two weeks," she said. " He came to me with what he needed and we tried to be very helpful.
"Progressive was only to be used as a back-up," she added.
However, that wasn't the impression Keith Niner, regional director for Progressive Rehabilitation Services, got from Catron the morning of Jan. 29.
"We had been talking (with Mason) about our service for almost a month and they had mentioned changes were coming to them," Niner said. "He (Catron) called me on the morning of Jan. 29 and asked us to begin services the following Monday (Feb. 1).
"He said they would not have services through the hospital on Monday," Niner said. "Then, later that day, he called back and said the hospital had made him sign a temporary agreement."
Niner said as a result of his conversations with Catron, he was of the opinion Progressive was the best therapy services provider available to Mason.
"My perception from the conversations I've had with him was that we would be a more cost- effective provider than the one they are using now," he added.
Again, there is disagreement between the principles on this point.
"All along Mason and the doctors wanted Tom Johnson (and KRR) to provide therapy services because of having continuity with the patients," Darr said. "We had been working toward the goal of having the hospital and KRR provide those services all along. Masons wanted KRR."
Catron said KRR and Johnson's staff provided good service, but in exercising the due diligence his position requires of him, he made the determination that Progressive would be a more qualified service provider than KRR.
"We've received great service from KRR in the past, from Tom Johnson and KRR," he said. "But when I was faced with having to find therapy services, I thought I needed to find the best I could get."
The main reason he chose Progressive Rehabilitation was their experience in working with Medicare and the new regulations covering provision of residential services and payments.
Catron also noted that Progressive offered seven-day-a-week service while KRR offered five-day-a-week service.
"Continuity is nice, but operating under the new Perspective Payment System of Medicare is more important. We were being forced to look at all our vendors in order to survive," he said.
"They must be both knowledgeable and economical. So, at the end of the 90-day temporary agreement, we may very well go with Progressive because they are bigger, with more resources and have more knowledge of PPS and can help us to survive," Catron added. [[In-content Ad]]
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As the final days of Kosciusko Community Hospital drew to a close, some loose ends needed to be tied up - including securing a contract for therapy services for Mason Health Care.
On Jan. 29, following a flurry of activity, KCH officials and Mason Health Care administrator Brian Catron agreed to a service agreement for Kosciusko Regional Rehabilitation, a department of KCH. KRR, while a department within the hospital, is operated under a professional services contract with Tom Johnson and a staff of 13 therapists.
The resulting service contract with Mason is not in dispute, but the circumstances that led to its signing, and whether Mason was prevented from obtaining service from the best therapy provider, are the subject of disagreement.
According to Catron, on the morning of Jan. 29, three days before the sale of KCH to Quorum Health Services was complete, Joan Darr, vice president of operations for KCH, called to inform Catron that effective Feb. 1, Mason would no longer receive therapy services through KCH and that he needed to sign a service agreement with KRR before close of business to avoid a disruption of therapy services.
There was not going to be a disruption of services, however, because another provider, Progressive Rehabilitation Services of Fort Wayne, was scheduled to begin working with Mason the following Monday, Catron said. But Catron, still an employee of KCH at the time, signed the agreement with KRR because he was ordered to do so.
"The hospital has been very gracious in offering the extension of some services - the phones, for example," Catron said. "I did, however, have another vendor of therapy service arranged for Feb. 1 because they (Quorum) didn't want the liability."
Darr's recollection of these events is different.
"He (Catron) said he couldn't get somebody lined up for one to two weeks," she said. " He came to me with what he needed and we tried to be very helpful.
"Progressive was only to be used as a back-up," she added.
However, that wasn't the impression Keith Niner, regional director for Progressive Rehabilitation Services, got from Catron the morning of Jan. 29.
"We had been talking (with Mason) about our service for almost a month and they had mentioned changes were coming to them," Niner said. "He (Catron) called me on the morning of Jan. 29 and asked us to begin services the following Monday (Feb. 1).
"He said they would not have services through the hospital on Monday," Niner said. "Then, later that day, he called back and said the hospital had made him sign a temporary agreement."
Niner said as a result of his conversations with Catron, he was of the opinion Progressive was the best therapy services provider available to Mason.
"My perception from the conversations I've had with him was that we would be a more cost- effective provider than the one they are using now," he added.
Again, there is disagreement between the principles on this point.
"All along Mason and the doctors wanted Tom Johnson (and KRR) to provide therapy services because of having continuity with the patients," Darr said. "We had been working toward the goal of having the hospital and KRR provide those services all along. Masons wanted KRR."
Catron said KRR and Johnson's staff provided good service, but in exercising the due diligence his position requires of him, he made the determination that Progressive would be a more qualified service provider than KRR.
"We've received great service from KRR in the past, from Tom Johnson and KRR," he said. "But when I was faced with having to find therapy services, I thought I needed to find the best I could get."
The main reason he chose Progressive Rehabilitation was their experience in working with Medicare and the new regulations covering provision of residential services and payments.
Catron also noted that Progressive offered seven-day-a-week service while KRR offered five-day-a-week service.
"Continuity is nice, but operating under the new Perspective Payment System of Medicare is more important. We were being forced to look at all our vendors in order to survive," he said.
"They must be both knowledgeable and economical. So, at the end of the 90-day temporary agreement, we may very well go with Progressive because they are bigger, with more resources and have more knowledge of PPS and can help us to survive," Catron added. [[In-content Ad]]